GPU : Computer Hardware Buyers’ Glossary

GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), the analog of the CPU (Central Processing Unit),
that handles image processing. It sits on the video card. They are very fast
specialised processors, usually that deal with 128 bits at
a time and can handle data to the bit rather than the byte level of addressibility.
They are important primarily for 3D gaming which requires astounding amounts of
computation to render the images.